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Attorney General Jerry Brown's office has sparked debate about its interpretation of state privacy laws after it determined that a spokesman had not done anything illegal by secretly taping conversations with news reporters. At issue is state penal code section 632, which prohibits the intentional recording without consent of "confidential communication." While announcing the results of an internal investigation, Chief Assistant Attorney General Dane Gillette wrote that the privacy protection of such communication did not include on-the-record media interviews – a view that clashes with the common understanding of a state Supreme Court ruling on the law. Under Gillette's interpretation,...

The Legislature's top administrators have asked Attorney General Jerry Brown to decide whether pending 18 percent cuts to lawmakers' pay and benefits were legally approved by the California Citizens Compensation Commission. Jon Waldie, chief administrative officer of the Assembly, and Greg Schmidt, chief executive officer of the Senate, suggest that the reductions were beyond the jurisdiction of the seven-member commission, which is appointed by the governor. Citing the state's dire fiscal condition, the panel in May cut the pay for state officials by 18 percent beginning in December 2010 – after the next round of legislative elections. The cut will...

Attorney General Jerry Brown's communications director, Scott Gerber, submitted his resignation Monday after admitting last week that he had secretly taped conversations with reporters. In the letter to Chief Deputy Attorney General James Humes, Gerber said he was resigning "with a heavy heart" but emphasized that "neither the Attorney General nor any other attorneys from our office were aware that I was recording interviews without permission." The questionable, perhaps illegal, behavior came to light after Gerber told the San Francisco Chronicle that one of its reporters had misquoted Humes based on Gerber's recording of the conversation between Humes and political...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom made a surprise announcement Friday afternoon that he was dropping out of the gubernatorial race, leaving the Democrats with no declared candidate for the top statewide office. Attorney General Jerry Brown has opened an exploratory committee for governor but has yet to formally announce his candidacy. Nonetheless, Brown has opened a wide lead over Newsom in both fund-raising and in polls. "It is with great regret I announce today that I am withdrawing from the race for governor of California," Newsom said in a statement. "With a young family and responsibilities at city hall, I...

SACRAMENTO — The press secretary for California Attorney General Jerry Brown has been secretly recording telephone conversations with reporters, an apparent violation of state law. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that spokesman Scott Gerber acknowledged taping a phone interview with one of its reporters. It said Gerber later acknowledged recording other conversations with reporters without asking their permission.

While Democrats have more than seven months left to choose their candidate for governor, one of the party's key constituencies has already made its preference clear, at least in the all-important money race. Unions all across the state and country have poured more than a million dollars into Attorney General Jerry Brown's campaign coffers – even though he has yet to officially announce his candidacy. That includes influential statewide bodies such as the California State Council of Labor and the California Nurses Association as well as out-of-state carpenters unions from New York to Honolulu. Meanwhile, the only declared Democratic candidate...

More than a decade before Jerry Brown's current incarnation as undeclared gubernatorial front-runner, he hit the airwaves of liberal Berkeley radio station KPFA five days a week to speak his mind. What he said then, as he interviewed poets, activists and the likes of leftist icon Noam Chomsky, promises to resurface this coming year as the 71-year-old former governor ponders running for a historic third gubernatorial term. During his three years on the air, Brown repeatedly blamed corporate malfeasance and political corruption for undermining American democracy and even causing deaths, according to edited excerpts of the radio broadcasts. Brown regularly...

Runner sues Attorney General over ballot wording SACRAMENTO • State Sen. George Runner is suing California Attorney General Jerry Brown for crafting what Runner calls an “overtly biased” summary of a ballot measure the senator created to prevent voter fraud. “I believe he has misrepresented what this initiative does,” said Runner, R-Lancaster, in an interview Monday. “That’s a tremendous disservice to the citizens of California.” Earlier this year Runner submitted ballot measure Vote SAFE, which would require voters to present photo identification at the polls, allow county Registrar of Voters additional time to count military votes and protect the identity...

LIMITS ON VOTING. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Prohibits citizens from voting at the polls unless they present a government-issued photo-identification card. Establishes provisional voting for citizens at the polls who fail to present government-issued photo-identification. Requires that provisional and mail-in ballots be deemed invalid unless the accompanying envelope is marked with the last four digits of a citizen's California driver's license, state identification card or social security number. Eliminates the right to vote for citizens on probation for a felony offense. Establishes that ballots from absent military personnael are timely if postmarked by election day.

Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose office has issued subpoenas in a widening public pension fund corruption probe, has received $52,500 in recent campaign contributions from relatives and a company of the two California businessmen he's now investigating. The contributions from four family members of Sacramento lobbyist Darius Anderson and the company of Los Angeles political fundraiser Daniel Weinstein went to Brown late last year – months before his office reportedly subpoenaed companies run by the two men. They have not been charged in a public pension scandal that has migrated west from New York and resulted in a handful of...

A scofflaw made off with the two passenger side tires from state Attorney General Jerry Brown's state-owned Toyota Camry hybrid as it was parked outside his Oakland hills home, his office said Thursday.Brown, Oakland's former mayor, was attending the state Democratic convention in Sacramento when the theft occurred April 24, said Brown's spokesman Scott Gerber. It was not known whether the culprits knew that the black car was used by Brown, police said. No arrests have been made, said Oakland police Sgt. Rich Vierra, chief of staff to acting Police Chief Howard Jordan.

Jerry Brown's Tires Stolen Near Oakland City Hall CBS 5 CrimeWatch OAKLAND (BCN) ― A thief stole two tires from California Attorney General Jerry Brown's Toyota Camry hybrid while it was parked outside his home in the Oakland hills last Friday night, his spokesman Scott Gerber said Thursday. Gerber said Brown was in Sacramento attending the state Democratic Party convention at the time. He said that when Brown returned home he discovered that two tires had been stolen. Brown apparently is taking the incident in stride. In a comment he posted on his Facebook site, Brown said, "Even though I...

Democratic state Attorney General Jerry Brown -- the former two-term governor expected to make another run in 2010 -- has issued the ultimate challenge to newbie Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom. He says he's willing to do "any test" to prove that he can meet and match any candidate, anywhere -- on brain power. Brown, 71, made the comments on KGO 810 AM this morning, after he was asked about the "generational" differences between himself and the San Francisco mayor, 41, who declared himself a candidate for governor earlier this week. "If he's asserting that the year he's born ......

LIVE WEBCAST - 03/05/09 California Supreme Court Oral Arguments on Proposition 8 - Same Sex Marriage 9:00AM (PST) http://www.calchannel.com The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Thursday, March 5, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., in three cases challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8, a statewide ballot initiative that was passed by a majority of California voters in November 2008. The California Channel will broadcast this event live via your local cable provider and on our website*.*Due to the high demand we expect for this event, if you have problems connecting then the server has reached its...

Not this again. With Democrats in control of Washington, the possibility of the reinstitution of the Fairness Doctrine is getting stronger and the rhetoric is getting bolder. But this time, it’s getting attention on the state level – the biggest state. Former Democratic California governor and current Attorney General Jerry Brown appeared on conservative talk host Michael Savage’s radio show on Feb. 13. One of the issues the two debated was the possibility of the renewal of the Fairness Doctrine. During the interview, Savage noted that Brown sounded as if he wanted state control over the media. “Well, a little...

Which California elected official likes arugula, broccoli and Flax Plus Multibran, was once a cheerleader, has sued President Nixon, been duck hunting with Earl Warren, and has practiced Zen meditation? It's official. The viral questionnaire that's been invading everyone's Facebook feed -- listing "25 Random Things About Me" -- has infiltrated the political spectrum. Attorney General Jerry Brown is the latest among us to waste a half hour concocting such a self-promoting list. From his "vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience" in the Catholic Church to his time with Mother Teresa, Brown goes briefly through his whirlwind of a career,...

The California Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will hear arguments on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the state's ban on same-sex marriage, in San Francisco on March 5. The high court's written ruling on whether the voter initiative should be struck down will be due 90 days later. The measure, enacted by voters on Nov. 4, amended the state Constitution to provide that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." It overturned a decision in which the court said by a 4-3 vote in May that gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional...

Sacramento, CA (AP) -- California's attorney general is asking a federal appeals court to block what he describes as an extravagant spending proposal for prison medical facilities. The Legislature has refused to act on the request for $8 billion made by the court-appointed receiver overseeing reform of California's prison health care system. The receiver is seeking an immediate $250 million as a down payment. . . . - Clark Kelso

Attorney General Jerry Brown, concerned about the pace of the investigation into a BART police officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed man early New Year's Day, said Saturday that he is sending an observer to the Alameda County district attorney's office to encourage prompt action. "The wheels of justice cannot grind so slowly that it appears that justice is not being served," Brown said at a news conference in his Oakland office after meeting with leaders of the NAACP, who called for criminal charges. While declining to criticize District Attorney Tom Orloff, Brown said he's not sure why Orloff needs...

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown has become a hero to gay rights advocates - and a potential leader in the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial field - with his recent controversial decision to mount a legal challenge to overturn Proposition 8, the initiative approved by voters that banned-same sex marriage in California. But few remember that 32 years ago, when Brown was governor of California, he played a crucial role on the same issue - he signed the landmark bill that changed the state's definition of marriage from a contract between two persons to one specifically between a man...

A generation ago, then-Gov. Jerry Brown's conscientious stand against the death penalty prompted a revolt in the Legislature and eventually spurred voters to throw out his appointee as chief justice of the California Supreme Court. Now the 70-year-old attorney general and would-be 2010 gubernatorial candidate is stirring a new storm by his legal challenge to voters' approval of a measure banning gay marriage in California. It's a move that could pay political dividends in a June 2010 Democratic primary against another likely gubernatorial candidate, San Francisco mayor and gay marriage champion Gavin Newsom. After initially indicating his office would defend...

December 23, 2008, 4:00 a.m. Gross Dereliction of DutyBy the Editors As attorney general of California, Jerry Brown has a duty to defend the state and its laws in court. That duty requires him to offer the best grounds in defense of any law that may reasonably be defended. In a brief he filed last Friday in the case challenging Proposition 8 — the ballot measure that amended California’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage — Brown grossly violated that duty. On Election Day, California voters approved Proposition 8. Opponents of Proposition 8 then rushed to court to invalidate it...

Attorney General Jerry Brown's legal challenge to California's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage marks the first time that the state's top lawyer has refused to defend a newly enacted ballot measure since 1964 - another epic discrimination case that eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In November 1964, an overwhelming 65 percent majority of the state's voters approved Proposition 14, a constitutional amendment that overturned a fair-housing law and allowed racial discrimination in property sales and rentals.Attorney General Thomas Lynch - newly appointed to succeed Stanley Mosk, a Prop. 14 opponent who had just been named to the state Supreme...

It was an early scene from The Matrix, but even Keanu Reeves began to figure out things had just gotten really weird. He discusses said predicament with his wasted buddy, Choi. Neo:You ever have that feeling where you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming? Choi: All the time. It's called mescaline, it's the only way to fly. Wikipedia describes Mescaline as a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid that is used to enhance transcendental practices. Apparently, serving as Attorney General, in The Great State of California, offers the office holder opportunities to experience transcendence; even without the pharmaceutical props. At...

Calif. AG Urges Court to Void Gay Marriage Ban SAN FRANCISCO – The California attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. In a dramatic reversal, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Earlier, Brown had said he would defend the ballot measure against legal challenges from gay marriage supporters. But Brown...

California’s Rush To Judgment on Same Sex Marriage December 20th, 2008 By JERRY REMMERS Only in California can the bizarre become the norm. In a spate of a few hours Friday afternoon, briefs were filed with the state Supreme Court challenging, supporting and extending a ban on same sex marriages. Backers of Proposition 8, the initiative that bans same sex marriage, petitioned to nullify the 18,000 marriages conducted after the high court voted 4-3 approving such nuptials. State Attorney General Jerry Brown countered with a brief indicating he could not support the proposition because “the amendment process cannot be used...

SAN FRANCISCO - California's attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now joining forces with homosexual activists to overturn the results of Proposition 8. In a dramatic reversal, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Earlier, Brown had said he would defend the ballot measure against legal challenges from gay marriage supporters. But Brown said he reached a different conclusion "upon...

SAN FRANCISCO — In a sharp rebuke to supporters of a contested state ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, the California attorney general said Friday that the measure was constitutionally indefensible and should be overturned. The attorney general, Jerry Brown, had previously hinted of his opposition to the measure, Proposition 8, but made his legal opinion concrete on Friday in a brief to the California Supreme Court, which is reviewing the measure. “Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification,” Mr. Brown said in a statement. The attorney...

In a surprise move, the state attorney general has asked the California Supreme Court to invalidate the gay marriage ban passed by voters last month.

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown has changed his position with respect to the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. Brown filed a brief Friday saying the measure, which amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman, is itself unconstitutional because it deprives gay couples of a fundamental right.

Attorney General Jerry Brown made noises like a 19th-century states' rights zealot last week in opposing a looming federal court order requiring the state to spend up to $8 billion to improve health care in its much-overcrowded prison system. As Brown depicted it in his appellate filing opposing the order obtained by federal receiver Clark Kelso, the order violates a federal law barring courts from ordering states to build new prisons as well as constitutional guarantees of state sovereignty. "In ordering the state to fund the receiver's massive prison construction program, the district court clearly violated federal law, and its...

State Attorney General Jerry Brown today urged the California Supreme Court to review legal challenges to Proposition 8, but steered clear of taking a position on the gay marriage ban measure approved by voters. In a written responses to three lawsuits seeking to overturn the initiative, Brown's office said the state's highest court should allow the measure to remain in effect during the review period because of the confusion that a stay of the measure would cause. "Due to the potential uncertainty that may be caused in important legal relationships by a temporary stay, the public interest would be better...

A massive $8.4 billion homeowner rescue plan announced Monday by the Bank of America will provide some relief for an estimated 125,000 Californians who are having trouble making payments on sub-prime loans and other risky mortgages from Countrywide Home Loans. Bank of America bought Countrywide for $4 billion July 1 after the Calabasas-based home loan giant, among the largest sub-prime lenders in the state, collapsed under the weight of mounting defaults and foreclosures. The bank's "Home Ownership Retention Program for Countrywide Customers'' was devised by California and 10 other states to settle predatory lending lawsuits filed against Countrywide. The plan...

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has ordered a crackdown on medical pot clubs that are selling the drug for big profits. The move puts the state a bit more in line with the feds in dealing with the explosion of questionable marijuana dispensaries since the passage of Proposition 215 more than a decade ago.The first target was Today's Health Care club in Northridge (Los Angeles County), which agents from the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement raided over the weekend. The club owner and an alleged middleman were booked on drug-dealing charges.Brown said Tuesday he would "not be surprised" to see...

NEW YORK -- New York Sen. Charles Schumer won't face a California investigation into whether he helped fuel IndyMac Bancorp Inc.'s collapse by expressing concerns about the mortgage lender's soundness. The California Attorney General's office said in a letter Thursday that there was "insufficient evidence" to investigate Sen. Schumer.

A ballot label that declares Proposition 8 "eliminates (the) right of same-sex couples to marry" will remain intact after a Sacramento County judge today dismissed a challenge by supporters of the measure. Sponsors of the Nov. 4 ballot measure had argued that Attorney General Jerry Brown's formal title and summary of the measure were prejudicial. But Sacramento County Judge Timothy Frawley disagreed that Brown acted in favor of opponents of the measure when he changed the ballot title -- "Limit on Marriage" -- that was on petitions circulated last year to qualify the ballot measure. "Petitioner has failed to explain...

. . . Palace plots: No sooner did San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announce he was forming an exploratory committee for governor than state Attorney General Jerry Brown made a move of his own - one that's likely to get under Newsom's skin. Reliable sources tell us that Brown has approached San Francisco PR consultant Alex Tourk to help launch his own campaign for governor, and the two were in serious talks this past week. Tourk, who once headed Newsom's Project Homeless Connect program, had a falling-out with his boss when he found out the mayor had slept with Tourk's...

June 20, 2008Berkeley, California This week the global edition of the New York Times ran an article titled "Michelle Obama to get subtle makeover." This in itself would normally not be a big deal, but it just so happens the consultant brought in to do this makeover is an old friend of mine, (Fabulous) Frankee Felaesho! I call Frankee (Fab) to get the inside poop on his Obama overhaul.According to Fab, there were several areas the campaign staff wanted to address in response to negative public perceptions. He faxed me his Makeover Action Plan (MAP): Perception: Michelle Obama hates white peopleRemedy: Instruct Michelle to (1) start referring to...

May 15, 2008 Berkeley, California OK, Scooter's psychotic empathizing with John McCain has gotten totally out of hand. It's one thing to adopt the hairstyle or even mild mannerisms of somebody one admires, but Scooter's total metamorphosis into McCain by way of elaborate theatrical makeup, wardrobe, acting, and vocal inflections is beyond weird. Yesterday we went shopping at the mall, and while there Scooter probably signed over a hundred autographs as Senator McCain. Later at the urging of onlookers he even gave an impromptu speech from atop a table at the food court. After flashing some very realistic Vietnam...

. . . Full circle: He's won't say anything officially, but behind the scenes, Jerry Brown is definitely laying tracks for a return trip to his old job as governor of California. "I feel great," Brown told us this past week as he headed for the gym. "I'm in the zone."And indeed, in the weeks since the state Democratic Party convention in San Jose, where he publicly toyed with the idea of an unprecedented third term, the 70-year-old governor-turned-Oakland-mayor-turned-attorney general has been meeting with Democratic insiders, labor leaders and longtime supporters to go over what it would take to run...

State Attorney General Jerry Brown waxed nostalgic about his former days as governor on Saturday and strongly suggested that he might run again - just as soon as he is done suing President Bush over global warming. In a speech to more than 1,000 activists at a state Democratic Party convention, Brown, 69, hyped his current legal battle to uphold California's global warming fight and enforce tough auto emissions standards. "I've had to sue Bush about five times," he said, because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "is blocking the will of the people of California." He stirred speculation of another...

He hasn't decided on run for governor; Lockyer has the biggest account. California Attorney General Jerry Brown may well run for governor in 2010. But you wouldn't know it by his fundraising in 2007. In fact, he barely raised any campaign funds at all, collecting only eight donations all year. His campaign account, which had more than $800,000 left over from his 2006 run, earned more in interest than in new contributions, according to the annual campaign filings made public Thursday. He ended the year with $851,000 in the bank."There is no conclusion to be derived from that fact," Brown...

SACRAMENTO - Invoking executive privilege, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday refused to provide lawmakers with a full explanation of why it rejected California's greenhouse gas regulations. The EPA informed Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that many of the documents she had requested contained internal deliberations or attorney-client communications that would not be shared now with Congress. "EPA is concerned about the chilling effect that would occur if agency employees believed their frank and honest opinions and analysis expressed as part of assessing California's waiver request were to be disclosed in a broad setting," EPA's associate administrator Christopher P. Bliley wrote....

OAKLAND, Calif. - Nearly four decades after entering California politics, Jerry Brown has reinvented himself yet again, this time as a carbon-fighting attorney general. The former governor, presidential candidate and Oakland mayor has emerged as a major player in the national debate on global warming, less than a year after taking office as the state's top law enforcement official. Brown has used threats, petitions, negotiated deals and a series of lawsuits to pressure automakers, county governments and the Bush administration to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. "It is the most important environmental issue facing the state and the world, and that's why...

SACRAMENTO -- Attorney General Jerry Brown -- declaring instant victory on a tobacco suit Tuesday -- plans to file a complaint today demanding that U.S. regulators force airliners and other aircraft to spew lesser amounts of greenhouse gases. The attorney general's aides said Brown's main focus of fighting global warming, which has focused mostly on carbon dioxide emissions from cars and industry, would move skyward today when he files a complaint jointly with other states and environmental groups against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington. Brown is scheduled to announce the petition he's filing with the EPA at Los...

Jerry Brown may have invented the so-called "canoe theory" of politics (paddle a little left, paddle a little right, end up in the center) but Arnold Schwarzenegger has probably come the closest to perfecting it. And this morning the two most recognizable faces in California government looked all the world like BFFs -- best (environmental) friends forever. The attorney general and the governor were there to announce the long-expected filing of a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for inaction on California's request to regulate auto emissions. For almost two years, the agency has been sitting on California's request...

When California Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued the six major auto manufacturers a year ago, claiming that they were liable for adverse consequences of global warming, it was widely seen as an election year stunt. Lockyer, who was being forced out of the attorney generalship by term limits and running for state treasurer, filed the suit just 48 days before the election but insisted that it was a serious effort to make automakers pay for producing cars that generated greenhouse gases that could damage California. Many others, however, questioned whether there was any legal basis in federal law for the...

San Francisco (AP) -- A federal judge on Monday tossed out a lawsuit filed by California that sought to hold the world's six largest automakers accountable for their contribution to global warming. In its lawsuit filed last year, California blamed the auto industry for millions of dollars it expects to spend on repairing damage from global-warming induced floods and other natural disasters. But District Judge Martin Jenkins in San Francisco handed California Attorney General Jerry Brown's environmental crusade a stinging rebuke when he ruled it was impossible to determine to what extent automakers are responsible for global-warming damages in California....

Do homosexual couples suffer any "constitutional injury" from being legally ineligible to obtain marriage licenses? California Attorney General Jerry Brown, in briefs filed with the state Supreme Court on Aug. 17, argues that marriage is a "constitutionally insignificant label" because, he says, same-sex domestic partners do not “lack” any benefit which would be supplied by legal marriage. Same-sex marriage advocate Geoff Kors of Equality California indicated to the Aug. 23 Bay Area Reporter that such objections are remarkably weak and obviously conflict with the state's stance in another court case. "The state and attorney general took the position in the...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Says Marriage Could be Eliminated in Future SACRAMENTO, August 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In legal briefs submitted to the California Supreme Court, which is considering whether to license "same-sex marriages" next year, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown both stated that a future Legislature could abolish marriage and yank marriage rights from a married husband and wife. A group hoping to place a question on the 2008 ballot to defend traditional marriage suggests that the briefs are evidence of the urgent need for the ballot initiative. In the Governor's brief, filed by his team...